Horizon Street

Cottages at Longborough

Loggerhead turtles are finicky nesters. After years of swimming the high seas, they'll instinctively come back to lay their eggs in the region, and usually on the very beach where they were hatched. Once there, they can be startled by a variety of debris, like tree limbs, and turn back to the water without nesting. And other dangers inherent in turtle procreation — like boats and fishing nets as well as unpleasant water temperatures — have led to a trend of declining turtle nesting on the South Carolina coast. But there was good news in 2008, with 3,160 identified nests, compared to 1,723 in 2007. Most local beaches saw growth in the number of nests, including more than 100 percent growth on Kiawah Island's shores.